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Joining The Dots

I have now published my new book, Joining The Dots, which offers a fresh look at the Atlantis mystery. I have addressed the critical questions of when, where and who, using Plato's own words, tempered with some critical thinking and a modicum of common sense.

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Earth Axial Tilt

John M. Jensen Jnr. is an independent researcher living in Florida, who has published two books on ancient civilisations and catastrophism. He has explored in depth some of the subjects touched on here. His first book was Ancient CanalBuilders (a) , which explores the extensive ancient canal network on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and Mexico. His second offering is Earth Epochs (b) in which he recounts pre-historic global catastrophes, including the Younger Dryas Event of 12,900 YBP, and what he calls the Last Great Cataclysm of 5,000 YBP and the Earth Axial Tilt of 3448 YBP. Both books can be downloaded for free.

Jensen does mention Atlantis, but without dealing with the matter in any depth, it seems to me that he does accept its reality. I do not agree with all his ideas but I think his work should be read, including his blogs (c) .

Earth Axial Tilt is the term used to describe the extent to which the Earth’s rotational axis is out of true with its orbital plane around the sun. This tilt varies between 24.5 degrees and 22.1 degrees over the course of a 41,000-year cycle. The current tilt is 23.5 degrees.

The Australian astronomer G.F. Dodwell made a study of ancient gnomons erected in many parts of the world and discovered that they did not conform to the theoretical curve. His studies indicate that an unexplained change to the Earth’s axis took place around 2345 BC. He apparently concluded that the data indicated an effect similar to that of a spinning top that has been hit and is regaining equilibrium(a). Dodwell’s discoveries have been seized upon by creationists as support for a ‘young’ earth. In fact, one creationist, George McCready Price (1870-1963), had independently concluded[1616] that the Earth’s axial tilt had been caused by an impact with an extraterrestrial body, an event that also caused the biblical Deluge.*Paul Dunbavin has now produced a review of Dodwell’s work and its possible relevance to his own theories(e).

A number of catastrophists, including Immanuel Velikovsky, have claimed that close encounters or actual impacts with other celestial bodies have caused changes in the Earth’s rotational characteristics. They further contend these changes have occurred within the experience of man, who has conveyed them through myth and legend to us.

There has been considerable speculation that such an encounter may have precipitated tectonic, seismic or tidal effects that led to the destruction of Atlantis.

A 2010 paper by Mihai Radu Draghici suggests(b) that an impact in the South Pacific created what is known as Drake’s Passage which separates South America from Antarctica. He also suggests that this event affected the tilt of the earth and that it probably took place within the memory of man.

An intriguing passage can be found in the apochryphal Book of Enoch which seems to endorse the idea that the tilt of the earth’s axis occurred when Enoch was alive and was later recorded.

“In those days Noah saw that the earth became inclined, and that destruction approached.”(c) [Enoch LXIV. 1 – trans. Richard Laurence, 1883]

An American researcher, John M. Jensen Jr., offers evidence from around the world that can be interpreted as offering support for an Earth Axial Tilt within the memory of man. Jensen goes further and proposes a fairly specific date for this dramatic event, namely, May 8 to May 15 of -3,448 YBP (his present was 2014).(d)